Queen crowned at Floyd County Fair

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

The Floyd County Fair kicked off this week with the Fame, Fun, and Royalty contest on Tuesday, July 16.

Families filled up the Youth Enrichment Center at the Floyd County Fairgrounds for an evening of entertainment and pageantry as they watched to see who would be crowned as this year’s fair royalty.

The program started off with the announcement of the winners of the FFA Tall Corn Contest. With 67 participating kids, the competition was strong to see who could grow the tallest stalk.

“This has been our biggest year so far,” said Renee Knapp. “It was a great year for tall corn.”

While the winners in each age group ranged from 67 to 93 inches, the overall winner of the year was Wyatt Parcher, whose corn stalk reached 100 inches tall.

Entering into the talent portion of the evening, a selection of kids took to the stage to perform a variety of musical acts. Piper and Silas Stauffer entertained with a piano duet of “The Lonely Goatheard” from “The Sound of Music,” along with solo acts of music from the “Harry Potter” and “Star Warsæ franchises.

Julia Whipple played “Sweet Caroline” on the saxophone, Isabella and Hannah Knecht sang “Glory Hallelujah” together, and Laker Kubik closed out the show with a piano solo of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”

Entering into the main event, Parker Jensen, Kash Kubik, Easton Legel, Olin Mann, Greyson Murphy, and Kyler Schubert each went up to the stage in turn to answer questions for the Little Mister Floyd County contest.

After the boys were done, there was a brief intermission for a fashion show, where two young models showed off their budget ensembles.

Then it was the girls’ turn as 19 kids went up on stage for a shot at becoming Little Miss Floyd County. Lydia Baker, Ella Damjanovic, Zuri Franke, Kinsley Gintz, Sydnie Gintz, Aerra Bella Hampton, Holland Heller, Kynslee Hillegas, Grace Kendall, Faye Krause, Hallie Kubik, Maren McGregor, Ellie Merriss, Gabriella O’Connor, Eve Pitkin, Rayna Schrader, Norine Soifer, Carrie Williams, and Rylee Zweibohmer each went up to answer questions themselves, their family, and what they liked about the fair.

Taking another brief pause, Chuck Staudt was recognized as this year’s 4-H Hall of Fame inductee on account of his years of volunteer involvement in 4-H programming.

“Thanks, Chuck, for all the hard work you’ve done for all the years at fair,” said Knapp.

The judges then made their decision, announcing Parker Jensen and Faye Krause as this year’s Little Mister and Little Miss Floyd County.

Then was the moment everyone had waited for as 2023’s Floyd County Fair Queen Josette Benning announced her successor.

Candidates Isabelle Vance, Kylie Blunt, Jadelyn Peters, Olivia Kreger, Kaitlyn Hillegas, Jada Litterer, Abby Pippert, and Isabella Knecht waited on stage to find out who the winner would be.

The crown went to Jada Litterer, with Abby Pippert declared first runner-up and Olivia Kreger named Miss Congeniality.

After the program, the audience enjoyed homemade baked goods from volunteers and went out to get a free hamburger courtesy of the Floyd County Cattlemen.

Activities continue at the fair through Sunday, July 21. For a schedule of events click here.